Rizzoli & Isles is inspired by a 2001 suspense novel called The Surgeon, by author Tess Gerritsen.

Now some promo shots, with Dr. Maura Isles and her shoe fetish :

Sasha Alexander is Dr. Maura Isles, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Chief Medical Examiner and a forensic expert. She is Rizzoli’s best friend. She is socially awkward and has trouble with men due to her brutal honesty and habit of revealing all their medical conditions.

Angie Harmon is Jane Rizzoli, a Boston detective who was traumatized by serial killer Charles Hoyt. She has scars in the center of her hands where Hoyt stabbed her with scalpels. As a child, she was slightly chubby, earning her the nickname Rollie Pollie Rizzoli. Maura Isles was called Maura-The-Bore-A in her high school years !